Key Takeaways from this newsletter:

• Interest in bio-based architectural coatings is growing, but the challenge remains to provide a product that performs as well as or better than existing products at the same cost.
• The availability of a cost-competitive bio-based resin with good performance should lead to significant bio-based paint introductions in 2025.

Bio-based raw materials have figured prominently at recent coatings conferences, including the European Coatings Show and Conference, the American Coatings Show and Conference, and the Coatings Trends and Technologies Summit.  Interest in bio-based architectural coatings is growing, but the challenge remains to provide a product that performs as well as or better than existing products at the same cost.(1) So far, there has not been a major bio-based latex offering produced for the U.S. architectural coatings market.

The USDA BioPreferred program, established in 2002, aims to increase the purchase of bio-based products.(2) The program has two main components.  First, federal agencies are required to purchase bio-based products in categories identified by the USDA.  For interior latex paints, the minimum bio-based content for federal purchasing preference is 20%.  The second component is voluntary labeling of bio-based products.  For "Interior Paints and Coatings-Other," the minimum bio-based content is 25%.  Several architectural coatings are listed on the BioPreferred website, including products from Sherwin Williams.

Raw materials for latex paints that can increase bio-based content include bio-based surfactants, thickeners, coalescents, and other additives.  The use of these components can increase the bio-based content of a formulation, although it will be difficult to reach BioPreffeed thresholds using just these additives.  The easiest way to attain bio-based status is to incorporate a bio-based resin.

At the Coatings Trends and Technologies Summit in Lombard, Illinois, this past September, Dow Chemical Company presented acrylic binders with bio-based content in the presentation "Painting a More Sustainable Future—Bio-Based Binder for Interior Architectural Paints" by Pratibha Mahale.(3)  Paints made with these resins perform as well as or better than existing acrylic-based wall paints. Another goal of the program is to provide formulators with resin solutions that meet cost targets.  A bio-based resin that is cost-competitive and performs similarly to its non-bio-based counterparts addresses the issues formulators have faced with bio-based paints.

A bio-based latex for architectural coatings may become commercially available in 2025. The availability of a cost-competitive bio-based resin with good performance should lead to significant bio-based paint introductions in 2025.  Let's see what develops.

1.  Biobased Coatings: Making Initial Inroads — American Coatings Association, Cynthia Challener, “Biobased Coatings: Making Initial Inroads,” American Coatings Association, Vol. 18, no.5, May 2021. (https://www.paint.org/coatingstech-magazine/articles/biobased-coatings-making-initial-inroads)

2.  BioPreferred USDA Biopreferred Website.  (https://www.biopreferred.gov/BioPreferred/faces/Welcome.xhtml)

3.  Pratibha Mahale, “Painting a More Sustainable Future-Bio-based Binder for Interior Architectural Paints.” Coatings Trends and Technologies Summit, Lombard, Illinois, Sept. 4-6, 2024.

(photo credit:  Ron Lach, pexels.com)